Outdoor plants in pots are easily overwhelmed with rain. Rain on unprotected potted plants leaches away soil nutrients and sometimes washes away the soil itself. It does not seem probable that an owner of outdoor plants would be able to protect plants very well because the owner is not present at all times to bring the plant under shelter. During periods of excessive rain, it is also not always possible or practical because of size, weight, or quantity, to take plants under shelter. Hence, there can be considerable reductions in plant healthiness, beauty, production, and plant death due to the lack of control. Plants that are in the ground may also benefit from this invention since it may also be otherwise impractical to give them shelter during periods of excessive rain. This invention relates to protecting plants by providing cover for the soil around the base of the plant. The cover provides several protective and controlling qualities that are aimed at making the plant healthy and productive.
Other protective covers have been suggested for potted plants. U.S. Pat. No. 4,395,845, granted to E. Markowitz, suggests a cover that aims at keeping the soil moist, and keeping the soil from spilling if the pot is tipped over. It is a disk-like cover that fits inside of the rim of the pot. This cover does not embody the capability to protect soil from excessive rain because is it flat and provides no run-off capacitiy. This cover also does not provide for controlled admittance of water.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,453 to J. Morehead suggests a cover that aims at protecting a plant in its early life. It is a truncated cone cover that allows filling cover with a fluid to provide thermal storage that would influence the growing environment. This cover does not embody the capability to protect large or mature plants because it does not accommodate installing on an existing plant which has larger foliage than its hole since it is one-piece construction. This cover also does not allow for controlled admittance of water.
Neither of the two referenced U.S. Patents have variances in construction, size, shape, or material to accommodate varying degrees of admittance of water, differing plant stem sizes and pot sizes, and differences in fitting for indoor or outdoor plants.